SOCY 389 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Simple Explanation, Anomie, Social Inequality
6 Oct 2016
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Outline: origins of contemporary strain theory. Core elements of theory: contemporary version of strain theory. Origins of strain theory: robert merton. Immigrants on how to get means, when they were told america will provide you with opportunity. Virtues (honesty) were comprised, the most important thing was to win. Merton was critical on american society from. Cultural universalism: severe imbalance: idea that success was narrowly defined, in america success was about money; not about how good of a parent you or living healthy. Stratified social structure: distinct classes between elite, wealthy, middle classes, which creates social inequality. The promise of moving out of the classes if you work really hard - you can climb up the economic ladder. Anomie at the social/societal level: gap between cultural (goals) and structure (means), which creates strain, four ways to react to strain: Enlightened alienation angry with government, lack of opportunity rebellion (terrorist or political.
